Hunger striker claims right to practice religion breached at Cork jail
The High Court has heard an Algerian man wanted on a terrorism charge in the United States went on hunger strike in Cork Prison while awaiting trial there.
Ali Charraf Damache with an address at John Colwyn House, High Street, Waterford is an Irish citizen and devout Muslim who claims his right to practise religion has been breached while in jail.
The State maintains the records do not support Ali Charraf Damache’s claims that at times in Cork Prison there were four inmates to a cell – two on beds and two on the floor.
The father-of-three was held there on remand prior to entering a guilty plea at Waterford Circuit Court last year to a charge of making a menacing phone call to an American lawyer in 2010.
He is now in Cloverhill prison on foot of a US extradition warrant over a charge of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists.
The 47-year-old claims that practices in Cork prison such as slopping out, once a week showers and lack of access to an Imam breached his rights.
He claims an insulting cartoon depiction of the Prophet Mohammed was left in his cell and that during this time he attempted suicide and even went on hunger strike for around 22 days.
